Phantoms face pair of East rivals

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — For the second straight weekend, the Youngstown Phantoms’ opponents will consist of the Indiana Ice and Team USA.

Since the Phantoms (11-10-2, 24 points/tied for fourth in the East Division) lost a game to each of those teams last week, this scheduling quirk has set up two opportunities for rapid revenge.

“Especially with Indiana, we feel we owe them one,” coach Bob Mainhardt said regarding the Ice’s 3-0 win in Youngstown on Dec. 10. Tonight the Phantoms and USHL defending champion Ice will meet again at 7:05, this time for the first time in Indianapolis at the Pepsi Coliseum.

“Maybe the pressure will be off getting to play them at their place and turn that to a positive,” Mainhardt said. “We can hopefully use some of the animosity from our last meeting to our advantage.”

Youngstown is 0-2 against Indiana (14-9-1, 29 points/second in East) and Mainhardt believes special teams play has turned both contests in the Ice’s favor.

The numbers back him up: the Phantoms have allowed three power play goals to their East Division nemesis and have gone a combined 0-for-8 with the man-advantage in the two losses.

Special teams also were significant last weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich., as Youngstown surrendered five power-play goals over two games against the U.S. National Team’s Under-17 team. The Phantoms won the Friday game 6-5 in overtime before dropping Saturday’s series finale 4-3.

“Even though we gave up some untimely power-play goals, I thought we executed a lot better than we have been,” Mainhardt said. “That’s the tricky thing as a coach: sometimes the statistics do lie.

“When you’re doing things that are right and just aren’t getting the bounces or are coming up a little bit short you have to make sure you keep plugging away and stick with it,” Mainhardt said.

Although the Phantoms’ penalty-killing unit took a few more punches than it would’ve liked against Team USA (6-14-3, 15 points/seventh in East), it generated numerous offensive chances and produced a pair of shorthanded goals in Friday’s win courtesy of defenseman Ben Paulides and forward Cody Strang.

Youngstown’s power play got revved up in Saturday’s third period, with forwards Taylor Holstrom and Jefferson Dahl both finding the net in a frantic final frame. Twice, the Phantoms tied the score, only to give up the subsequent go-ahead goal less than a minute later.

“We’ve been doing a lot of good things and getting some tremendous opportunities,” said Mainhardt of his team’s eighth-ranked power-play unit (17.8 percent conversion rate). “We’ve also been hitting some posts and seeing goalies come up with big saves, so we’ve got to continue to bear down and find ways to score in those situations.”

Saturday’s 7:05 p.m. start from Ann Arbor’s Ice Cube will be the Phantoms’ last game prior to the league’s Christmas break.

With a season-long 10 days between contests approaching, Mainhardt and associate coach Curt Carr will use the time off to motivate their players.

“At this time of year, all teams have a tendency to start their breaks early and get a little lackluster,” Mainhardt said, “so that’s one of the things we’ll be battling.

“We’re going to encourage them to leave it all on the ice because they’re obviously going to get a pretty nice rest afterwards.”